Packing piece for civil engineering works

ABSTRACT

A packing piece of elastomeric material for civil engineering constructions has integrally moulded thereto, a plurality of projecting members each of which is surrounded by a rigid metal member to prevent, or reduce the deformation of the packing piece during compression in a direction at right angles to the force applying the compression. The rigid metal members are maintained in position around the projections by means of washers and wood screws which are threaded into the free ends of the projections.

United States Patent [1 1 Sequaris 1 Feb. 27, 1973 1 1 PACKING PIECE FORCIVIL ENGINEERING WORKS [75] Inventor: Etienne-Thomas drimont, Belgium[73] Assignee: Helka S. A., Fribourg, Switzerland 22 Filed: June 15,197021 Appl.No.: 46,298

Sequaris, An-

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 20, 1969 Switzerland..9431/69 [52] US. Cl. ..52/396, 52/471, 94/18 [51] Int. Cl. ..EOIc11/10, E04f 15/14 [58] Field of Search .....94/l8, 51, 18.2; 52/396,470, 52/471; 248/22, 350

2,430,208 11/1947 Best ..248/22 1,587,484 6/1926 Holden ....248/221,418,701 6/1922 Corcoran ..248/22 FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS695,015 8/1967 Belgium ..94/l8 707,457 4/ 1968 Belgium ..94/ l 8 PrimaryExaminer-Frank L. Abbott Assistant Examiner-Leslie A. Bra'unAttorney-Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato [57] ABSTRACT A packingpiece of elastomeric material for civil engineering constructions hasintegrally moulded thereto, a plurality of projecting members each ofwhich is surrounded by a rigid metal member to prevent, or reduce thedeformation of the packing piece during compression in a direction atright angles to the force applying the compression. The rigid metalmembers are maintained in position around the projections by means ofwashers and wood screws which are threaded into the free ends of theprojections.

17 Claims, 3 Drawing; Figures PATENTEB FEBZ 71375 sum 1 or 2 PACKINGPIECE FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING WORKS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thisinvention relates to packing pieces used in civil engineeringconstructions for an expansion joint particularly, for road bridges.

Packing pieces are known which consist of a piece of plastic materialhaving a trapezoidal section the small base of which is intended to facedownwards. The packing piece is provided with spaced side parts embeddedin an elastic material near its edges, in order to increase thelongitudinal flexibility of the packing. The side parts have aperturesfor receiving fixing bolts.

The metal side parts, embedded in the elastic material, are intended tobe partially or totally notched according to the needs of thelongitudinal section and have I spaced apertures to receive fasteners.Ad-

vantageously, the packing has variations in section so as to facilitatelengthening and contraction in the transversal direction.

The advantages of this known packing piece are on v fabrication and toenable the packing to work efficiently, notonly with tractionand-compression, but also in torsion and shear while maintaining itswaterproof qualities.

According to the present invention a packing piece of elastomericmaterial for civil engineering constructions, comprises a projection onthe elastomeric and means for maintaining therigid member in position Isurrounding the projection, the rigid member substan- .tially reducingthe deformation of the packing piece -duringcompression in a directionat right angles to the force applying the compression.

' AIMS OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to providea packing piece which is easyto handle, simple to manu- ;facture, and issubstantially non-deformable in a direction at right angles to aforceapplying compression to the sides of the packing piece.

The transversal as well as the longitudinal stability of the joint canthus be assured without the packing being provided with, buried insideit or on the outside, metal plates or others, continuous or broken, usedfor support as is the case in known packing, the insertion of which hasthe effect of preventing the joint from undergoingtorsion or shearingstresses ,if these should be brought about, accidentally or not.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An embodiment of the invention will now bedescribed, by way of example, reference being made to the Figures of theaccompanying drawings in which:

' material, a rigid member surrounding the projection FIG. 1 is across-section of a packing piece in position between two members;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of one side of the packing piece of FIG. I;and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the packing piece of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the Figures, a packingpiece 7 of elastomeric material, for example rubber, is arranged toextend over an expansion space 3 between flooring 1 and an abutment 2.Steel plates 4 having anchoring rods 5 are embedded in the concreteforming the flooring 1 and abutment 2. Each plate 4 has a through holeto permit the passage therethrough of the shank of a bolt 6. The bolts 6have square heads and one side of each head extends alongside aprojection 18 welded to the corresponding plate 4 to prevent rotation ofthe head. The bolts 6 extend through holes in metal edge members 8,which edge members are embedded in the side surfaces of the packingpiece 7. Nuts 12 engaging the bolts 6 clamp the edge members 8 againstthe upper surface of each plate 4. I

Each edge members 8 has two flanges at right angles to each other todefine an L-shape in cross-section, One flange 8a has two flaps 8b cutand bent parallel to the other flange (see FIG. 2) which flaps 8b areembedded in the side surfaces of the packing piece 7.

flange having holes through which the shanks of bolts 6 pass. The sidemembers 9 ensure that the elastomeric packing piece 7 is rigidly held onthe plates 4 but preserve the flexibility required in the longitudinaldirection of the packing piece. In fact, it is to advantage to fit thepacking piece 7 tothe shape of the cross-section of the bridge. In orderto do this, if necessary, the upright flange ofeach side member 9 (asseen in FIG. 1) can be cut off so that it has a V-shaped vertical notch9a the point of which reaches the base of the upright flange and thusenables the horizontal flange to be distorted, to constitute a brokenline and to conform to the shape of the bridge, to the maximum.

In order to facilitate the placing of nuts 12 and their tightening tofixing bolts 6, also'to enable, as required, the use of bolts having avery muchlarger diameter and thus nuts of a greater size, eachsidemember 9 has apertures 11 placed in relation to nuts 12 and locatedadjacent the bottom position in the upright flange. Side members 9 areof generally right angled shape, but are flexed to an angle of less than90 as seen in FIG. 1 to form an area of pre-compression in the uppersides of packing piece 7, this being very useful when the joint issubject to traction stress. As a result, the upper edges of the packingpiece 7'remain always firmly pressed on the vertical outer faces of theside members 9 and thus produce a supplementary sealing factor for thejoint. The packing piece 7 has a plurality of spaced, parallellongitudinally extending grooves 17 of generally rectangularcross-section, on its bottom surface. Cylindrical projections 13 moldedwith the packing piece 7 extent outwardly from the bases of the grooves17. Surrounding each projection 13 is a. parallelepiped block 14 havinga central through hole, through which hole,

the projection 13 extends. Each block 14 has the same width as thegrooves 17 so that there is no clearance between the sides of the block14 and the sides of the grooves when the packing piece 7 is not incompression. Washers 16 and wood screws maintaining the blocks 14 inposition around their respective projections 13. Tightening of thescrews 15 eliminate any play between the block 14 and its projection 13.The blocks 14 may be applied to the projections 13 after vulcanizationof the packing piece 7. The blocks 14 prevent the lifting of the packingpiece 7 when subjected to compression in a horizontal transversedirection. Without the blocks 14, the packing piece 7 would tend to bowup when compressed, thereby tending to close the grooves 17. The blocks14 restrain such closure and thereby restrain the packing piece 7 frombowing up. The better stability and resistance accrued by the packingthus enables covering plates for space provided for the free expansionof the works to be omitted.

This improvement concerns the transversal stability which is carried outherein without the convergence of the metal stiffening parts with turnedup edges previously used. In effect, the positioning of this part, dueto the fact that it requires the addition of supplementary elements, isformed in quite a complex manner: the part located under a metal plateis incorporated in a boss provided in the packing being fixed onto thisplate by means of screw which engages in a tapping made in the latter.In addition, the groove in packing piece 7 in which the stiflening plateworks was relatively wide which weakens it and usually necessitates theemployment of an auxiliary metal plate for support, outside of the jointas is, and resting on the ends of the elements of the civil engineeringwork to be joined together in such a way as to ensure the coveringsurface stabilized by the base.

A similar result to that obtained by this system, namely, the packingheld in the horizontal plane when subjected to compression tends to liftitself up, is achieved in the following manner: the packing in elastomerno longer has an alternation of similar and relatively narrow grooves17, in cross-section, the joint resting directly on the elements of thecivil engineering works.

What is claimed is:

l. A packing piece of elastomeric material for civil engineeringconstructions, comprising a plurality of projections integrally formedwith the elastomeric material, a rigid metal member surrounding eachprojection, and washers and wood screws for maintaining therigid metalmembers in position surrounding their respective projections, the woodscrews being screwed into the free end of the projections, the rigidmetal members substantially reducing the deformation of the packingpiece during compression in a direction at right angles to the forceapplying the compression.

2. A packing piece as claimed in claim 1, wherein the projections arearranged in at least two grooves on one face of the elastomericmaterial, each groove having a generally rectangular cross-section.

3. A packing piece as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rigid metalmembers are parallelepiped blocks each having a central through holethrough which hole a projection extends, each block engaging within agroove on one face of the elastomeric material, each groove having agenerally rectangular cross-section, the width of the groove and thewidth of the blocks being such that there is no clearance between thesides of the block and the sides of the groove when the packing piece isnot in compression.

4. A packing piece as claimed in claim 1, wherein the packing piece iselongate and has embedded in its side surfaces two series of equi-spacedsubstantially identical edge members for fastening the packing piece toa surface.

5. A packing piece as claimed in claim 1, in which the packing piece iselongate and has embedded in its side surfaces two series of equi-spacedsubstantially identical edge members, each edge member having twoflanges at right angles to each other, one flange having two flapsformed in it, which flaps extend outwardly parallel to the other flangebut in the opposite sense to the other flange, the flaps being embeddedin the elastomeric material of the packing piece, the other flangehaving through holes for receiving fastening means.

6. A packing piece as claimed in claim 5, wherein each edge member isregularly and alternatively superimposed by the inside metal part of thepacking piece with limited covering of the latter.

7. A packing piece as claimed in claim 5, wherein parts of the edgemembers are cut-out thereby enabling the packing piece to be wound ontoa drum to facilitate transportation as well as to join when placed inposition the variations in contour across elements to which the packingpiece is to be applied.

8. A packing for an expansion joint between two slabs comprising anelongated packing piece of elastomeric material bridging said joint,said packing piece having in its lower face at least one longitudinallyextending groove and a plurality of projections in said grooveintegrally formed of said elastomeric material, a rigid metal memberreceived in said groove and surrounding each said projection and meansfor securing said rigid member on each said projection, said rigidmembers substantially reducing the deformation of the packing pieceduring compression in a direction at right angles to the force applyingthe comprission.

9. A packing as claimed in claim 8, wherein said groove and said rigidmembers are generally rectangular in cross section and are ofsubstantially the same width so that there isno clearance between thesides of said members and the sides of said groove.

10. A packing as claimed in claim 9, wherein there are at least two saidlongitudinal grooves with projections and said rigid members therein,said grooves being spaced apart and parallel to one another.

11 A packing as claimed in claim 8, wherein a series of metal edgemembers are embedded in each leteral edge of said packing piece, eachedge member having two flanges at right angles to each other, one saidflange having flaps forward therein, which flaps extend in the plane ofthe other flange but in the opposite direction to said other flange, theflaps being embedded in the elastomeric material of the packing piece,said other flange having through holes for receiving fastenmg means.

12..A packing as claimed in claim 11, wherein successive ones of saidedge members are interconnected by flexible metal members of angularcross section with two flanges one of which has through holesregistering with said through holes of said edge members for saidfastening means and the other flange extending at an angle to said oneflange and with elastomeric material of said packing piece between saidother flange of said interconnecting piece and said one flange of saidedge members.

13. A packing as claimed in claim 12, wherein said flanges of saidinterconnecting member are disposed at an angle less than 90 to oneanother.

14. A packing for an expansion joint between two horizontal slabs,comprising an elongated packing piece of elastomeric material bridgingsaid joint, a series of metal edge members embedded in each lateral edgeof said packing piece for securing said packing piece to said slabsrespectively, each of said edge members being of angular cross sectionand having a first flange that is horizontal and extends in a directionoutwardly away from said packing piece, said first flange having throughholes to receive fastening means for securing said edge member to therespective slab, and a second flange having a first portion extendingupwardly at right angles to said first flange and a second portionextending horizontally inwardly of said packing and thus oppositely tosaid first flange, both of said portions of said second flange beingembedded in said elastomeric material of said packing piece, andflexible metal members interconnecting successive ones of said edgemembers, each of said interconnecting members being of angular crosssection with two flanges comprising a first horizontal flange overlyingsaid first flange of said edge members and having through holesregistering with said through holes of the edge members and a secondflange extending upwardly from said first flange with elastomericmaterial of said packing piece between said second flange of saidinterconnecting member and the upwardly extending portions of saidsecond flange of the respective edge members.

15. A packing as claimed in claim 14, wherein the flanges of saidinterconnecting member are disposed at an angle less than to oneanother, said second flange of said interconnecting member beingdisposed at an acute angle to said first portion of said second flangeof the respective edge members.

16. A packing as claimed in claim 14, wherein said second flange of saidinterconnecting member is notched to increase the flexibility of saidinterconnecting member.

17. A packing for an expansion joint between two horizontal slabs,comprising an elongated packing piece of elastomeric material bridgingsaid joint, a series of metal edge members embedded in each lateral edgeof said packing piece for securing said packing piece to said slabsrespectively, each of said edge members being of angular cross sectionand having a first flange that is horizontal and extends in a directionoutwardly away from said packing piece, said first flange having throughholes to receive fastening means for securing said edge member to therespective slab, and a second flange having a first portion extendingupwardly at right angles to said first flange and a second portionextending horizontally inwardly of said packing, and thus oppositely tosaid first flange, both of said portions of said second flange beingembedded in said elastomeric material of said packing piece, saidpacking piece having in its lower ace a least one longitudinallyextending groove of rectangular cross section, rigid metal members ofrectangular cross section received in said groove, the width of saidrigid members being substantially equal to the width of said groove, andmeans securing said rigid members in said groove, said rigid memberssubstantially reducing the deformation of the packing piece duringcompression in a direction at right angles to the force applying thecompressron.

1. A packing piece of elastomeric material for civil engineeringconstructions, comprising a plurality of projections integrally formedwith the elastomeric material, a rigid metal member surrounding eachprojection, and washers and wood screws for maintaining the rigid metalmembers in position surrounding their respective projections, the woodscrews being screwed into the free end of the projections, the rigidmetal members substantially reducing the deformation of the packingpiece during compression in a direction at right angles to the forceapplying the compression.
 2. A packing piece as claimed in claim 1,wherein the projections are arranged in at least two grooves on one faceof the elastomeric material, each groove having a generally rectangularcross-section.
 3. A packing piece as claimed in claim 1, wherein therigid metal members are parallelepiped blocks each having a centralthrough hole through which hole a projection extends, each blockengaging within a groove on one face of the elastomeric material, eachgroove having a generally rectangular cross-section, the width of thegroove and the width of the blocks being such that there is no clearancebetween the sides of the block and the sides of the groove when thepacking piece is not in compression.
 4. A packing piece as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the packing piece is elongate and has embedded in itsside surfaces two series of equi-spaced substantially identical edgemembers for fastening the packing piece to a surface.
 5. A packing pieceas claimed in claim 1, in which the packing piece is elongate and hasembedded in its side surfaces two series of equi-spaced substantiallyidentical edge members, each edge member having two flanges at rightangles to each other, one flange having two flaps formed in it, whichflaps extend outwardly parallel to the other flange but in the oppositesense to the other flange, the flaps being embedded in the elastomericmaterial of the packing piece, the other flange having tHrough holes forreceiving fastening means.
 6. A packing piece as claimed in claim 5,wherein each edge member is regularly and alternatively superimposed bythe inside metal part of the packing piece with limited covering of thelatter.
 7. A packing piece as claimed in claim 5, wherein parts of theedge members are cut-out thereby enabling the packing piece to be woundonto a drum to facilitate transportation as well as to join when placedin position the variations in contour across elements to which thepacking piece is to be applied.
 8. A packing for an expansion jointbetween two slabs comprising an elongated packing piece of elastomericmaterial bridging said joint, said packing piece having in its lowerface at least one longitudinally extending groove and a plurality ofprojections in said groove integrally formed of said elastomericmaterial, a rigid metal member received in said groove and surroundingeach said projection and means for securing said rigid member on eachsaid projection, said rigid members substantially reducing thedeformation of the packing piece during compression in a direction atright angles to the force applying the comprission.
 9. A packing asclaimed in claim 8, wherein said groove and said rigid members aregenerally rectangular in cross section and are of substantially the samewidth so that there is no clearance between the sides of said membersand the sides of said groove.
 10. A packing as claimed in claim 9,wherein there are at least two said longitudinal grooves withprojections and said rigid members therein, said grooves being spacedapart and parallel to one another. 11 A packing as claimed in claim 8,wherein a series of metal edge members are embedded in each leteral edgeof said packing piece, each edge member having two flanges at rightangles to each other, one said flange having flaps forward therein,which flaps extend in the plane of the other flange but in the oppositedirection to said other flange, the flaps being embedded in theelastomeric material of the packing piece, said other flange havingthrough holes for receiving fastening means.
 12. A packing as claimed inclaim 11, wherein successive ones of said edge members areinterconnected by flexible metal members of angular cross section withtwo flanges one of which has through holes registering with said throughholes of said edge members for said fastening means and the other flangeextending at an angle to said one flange and with elastomeric materialof said packing piece between said other flange of said interconnectingpiece and said one flange of said edge members.
 13. A packing as claimedin claim 12, wherein said flanges of said interconnecting member aredisposed at an angle less than 90* to one another.
 14. A packing for anexpansion joint between two horizontal slabs, comprising an elongatedpacking piece of elastomeric material bridging said joint, a series ofmetal edge members embedded in each lateral edge of said packing piecefor securing said packing piece to said slabs respectively, each of saidedge members being of angular cross section and having a first flangethat is horizontal and extends in a direction outwardly away from saidpacking piece, said first flange having through holes to receivefastening means for securing said edge member to the respective slab,and a second flange having a first portion extending upwardly at rightangles to said first flange and a second portion extending horizontallyinwardly of said packing and thus oppositely to said first flange, bothof said portions of said second flange being embedded in saidelastomeric material of said packing piece, and flexible metal membersinterconnecting successive ones of said edge members, each of saidinterconnecting members being of angular cross section with two flangescomprising a first horizontal flange overlying said first flange of saidedge members and having through holes registering with said throughholes of the edge members anD a second flange extending upwardly fromsaid first flange with elastomeric material of said packing piecebetween said second flange of said interconnecting member and theupwardly extending portions of said second flange of the respective edgemembers.
 15. A packing as claimed in claim 14, wherein the flanges ofsaid interconnecting member are disposed at an angle less than 90* toone another, said second flange of said interconnecting member beingdisposed at an acute angle to said first portion of said second flangeof the respective edge members.
 16. A packing as claimed in claim 14,wherein said second flange of said interconnecting member is notched toincrease the flexibility of said interconnecting member.
 17. A packingfor an expansion joint between two horizontal slabs, comprising anelongated packing piece of elastomeric material bridging said joint, aseries of metal edge members embedded in each lateral edge of saidpacking piece for securing said packing piece to said slabsrespectively, each of said edge members being of angular cross sectionand having a first flange that is horizontal and extends in a directionoutwardly away from said packing piece, said first flange having throughholes to receive fastening means for securing said edge member to therespective slab, and a second flange having a first portion extendingupwardly at right angles to said first flange and a second portionextending horizontally inwardly of said packing, and thus oppositely tosaid first flange, both of said portions of said second flange beingembedded in said elastomeric material of said packing piece, saidpacking piece having in its lower face at least one longitudinallyextending groove of rectangular cross section, rigid metal members ofrectangular cross section received in said groove, the width of saidrigid members being substantially equal to the width of said groove, andmeans securing said rigid members in said groove, said rigid memberssubstantially reducing the deformation of the packing piece duringcompression in a direction at right angles to the force applying thecompression.